Nairo Quintana tops shrinking unsigned rider list as Valgren, Costa renew with EF Education-EasyPost

Pro cycling’s annual game of Musical Chairs is weeks away from ending and 44 WorldTour riders have yet to sign new contracts for the 2025 season. Among those yet to be confirmed, Colombian Nairo Quintana currently tops the list in terms of points scored during this season.

Quintana was unable to find a team for 2023 after being disqualified from the 2022 Tour de France for testing positive for Tramadol. Movistar signed him for 2024 on a one-year contract. Quintana struggled with illness and injury in the early season and scrapped his GC ambitions for the Giro d’Italia. He finished second on the stage to Livigno but went winless during the year.

Two riders from our previous list of unsigned riders have renewed with EF Education-EasyPost: Rui Costa signed through 2025 and Michael Valgren through 2026 this week, their agent at CORSO confirmed to Cycling News. Together with Madis Mihkels, Vincenzo Albanese, Samuele Battistella, Kasper Asgreen, Alex Baudin and Max Walter, the American team has 26 riders confirmed for next year.

EF-EasyPost have yet to announce whether Alexander Cepeda, Esteban Chaves, Stefan De Bod and James Shaw will remain with the team. Cepeda is among the top-ranked riders yet to be confirmed for 2025.

Also on the list of riders searching for teams is Elia Viviani, who was not on Ineos’ roster of 30 riders. Leo Hayter, another one not to make the British team’s cut, has been suffering from depression and announced in a statement this summer that he would not continue with the team.

Taco van der Hoorn, who helped to usher Intermarché-Wanty into the WorldTour with strong results in 2021 and 2022, has been struggling with the after-effects of a concussion he suffered in 2023. He returned to racing in June after 14 months away from competition and claimed his first win last month at the Betcity Elfstedenrace.

Mads Würtz Schmidt, 30, is also seeking a new team according to his agent at CORSO after not making the cut with Israel-Premier Tech for 2025.

Teams showed a preference for younger riders and riders who can score points as the WorldTour teams approach the final year of the UCI’s three-year promotion/relegation cycle.

Of the 18 WorldTour teams, at least seven have closed their rosters for 2025: Alpecin-Deceuninck are complete with 29 while Bahrain-Victorious, Cofidis, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, Ineos Grenadiers, Souda-Quickstep and Jayco-AlUla and ProTeams Israel-Premier Tech and Tudor Pro Cycling have reached the maximum team size of 30.

Of the riders who have signed for 2025, the average age is 27.6 while the average age of the unsigned riders is 28.6, which highlights men’s pro cycling’s preference for younger riders.

The oldest riders who have still not signed for next year include Cameron Wurf (41), Yukiya Arashiro (40), Ben Hermans and Dmitriy Gruzdev (38)

There are six riders 23 or under who have not found teams, with Colombian Santiago Umba (Astana) the youngest at 21.

Current sizes of 2025 rosters

• Alpecin-Deceuninck 29*
• Arkéa-B&B Hotels 24
• Astana Qazaqstan Team 29
• Bahrain-Victorious 30*
• Cofidis 30*
• Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 30*
• EF Education-EasyPost 26
• Groupama-FDJ 27
• Ineos Grenadiers 30*
• Intermarché-Wanty 27
• Lidl-Trek 30*
• Movistar Team 27
• Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe 25
• Soudal Quick-Step 30*
• DSM-firmenich PostNL 27
• Jayco AlUla 30*
• Visma-Lease a Bike 29
• UAE Team Emirates 28
• Israel-Premier Tech 30*
• Lotto 26
• Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team 21
• TotalEnergies 26
• Tudor Pro Cycling Team 30*
• Uno-X Mobility 26

*Roster complete

Available riders